Former boxer Camacho shot

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Former world boxing champion Hector “Macho” Camacho was shot in the face as he sat in a car outside the Puerto Rican capital Tuesday, and doctors said he was in serious condition but expected to survive.

Another man in the car, whose relationship to the 50-year-old Camacho wasn’t immediately known, died in the attack in which at least one gunman opened fire on their vehicle in the city of Bayamon, according to a statement from police.

Camacho was rushed to Centro Medico, the trauma center in San Juan, where he was in critical but stable condition, Dr. Ernesto Torres, the hospital director, told reporters.

The bullet apparently struck him in the jaw but exited his head and lodged in his right shoulder and fractured two vertebrae, Torres said. The doctor said the boxer, who was trailed by drug and alcohol problems during a career that included some high-profile bouts, could be paralyzed from the shooting.

“Camacho’s condition is extremely delicate,” he told Telenoticias. “His physical condition will help him but we will see.”

No arrests have been made in the shooting, police said.

Camacho representative Steve Tannenbaum said he was told by friends at the hospital that the boxer would make it.

“This guy is a cat with nine lives. He’s been through so much,” he said. “If anybody can pull through it will be him.”

The fighter’s last title bout came against then-welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya in 1997, a loss by unanimous decision.